New to D&D, no idea where to start

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New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby CultD » 21 Mar 2012, 13:48

My wife and I are looking to get into D&D and as the title says, have no idea where to start. Looking online you come across so many different opinions on which version to play and what you need to get started. From what I've read though, it seems that the 4th Edition is the easiest to get into for newcomers and at the very least need the player's handbook.

My questions are: are there any introductions to D&D sessions at Cape Fear Games and what do I need to buy in order to get started?

We came to the store on Monday and talked with a very nice worker (sorry don't remember name) who directed us to the forums as well as the Facebook page. She said that there were often D&D games going on, but didn't know specifics, so we're taking her advice and reaching out.

Thank you all for your time.
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby Iunnrais » 21 Mar 2012, 17:38

The absolute best way to start playing D&D is with a good DM. That goes for playing any role playing game, quite frankly. The system actually doesn't matter... if you have a good DM, you could jump right into the most complicated system in the world and find it a breeze, since part of the DM's job is to make things easy for new players. 1st edition, 2nd, 3rd, 3.5, 4th, Pathfinder... doesn't matter as much as the DM if you're the player. The DM should be able to help you make a character, asking simple questions to define what you want and filling in the details for you. After that, play is simply a case of imagining the world he tells you about and telling him what you do. He'll tell you what dice to roll to see if you succeed at stuff, and your sheet will tell you anything extraordinary that you can try to do.

So, your first step should be to try to find a game with open spots. Right now I'm running a game, but I'm full up for players... more than 5 players and things start getting bogged down, so I don't like to do it. I understand that Wednesday evenings (I think at 6pm?) there's a D&D Encounters group, which is basically a pickup game sort of thing where you can walk in, make a character in a few minutes (with the DM's help), and start playing right away. I'm not 100% positive they're still going on, but last I heard it was still going strong.


However, if after some searching you cannot find a game, the next thing to do is start one yourself. This is going to take a bit more work. On the other hand, DMing can be one of the most rewarding pass-times around, and the hobby ALWAYS needs new DMs. And everyone has to start somewhere-- not everyone can join a game first.

When you're starting to become a DM, edition DOES matter. Here, I would recommend 4th Edition, because it's almost certainly the easiest to DM for. It combines the "Make stuff up" strength of 1st edition with the easy math of 3rd edition, and then makes the math even simpler by getting rid of cascading dependencies.

The traditional way of starting out with a brand new set of players and DM, where everyone is new, is to pitch together to buy the three core books, but 4th edition makes it even easier. Buy a set of dice (you'll want at least 1d4, 3d6, 1d8, 2d10, 1d12, 1d20, and later on each player may want to buy a set for themselves) or even splurge for a pound of dice (support our FLGS, ask them to order it for you), and then download wizard's Quick Start Rules and Adventure, and get a feel for things. It's not the full game, but it's plenty to start learning with, and it's free to do (aside from buying the dice, which you'll need anyway).

The quick start rules will tell you the rules for how to run a Combat Encounter, and will give you pre-built characters for 1st and 2nd level. And then the sample adventure will give you the monsters and setting to get started... take note, as DM, you should consider even at this early engagement to change the adventure to fit your own imagination. Use the rules, and the monsters, and then make stuff up. In addition to the quickstart rules, you'll want some graphpaper and pencils-- you'll be drawing your gameboard and drawing where everything is. You might find it helpful to use coins as tokens.

Soon, once you've gotten the hang of things, you'll want to have more monsters to send at your players, and your players will want to customise their characters, and even level up past level 2. It's time for you and your players to pitch together and buy the following three books:

Players Handbook
Dungeon Master's Guide
Monster Manual

In 4th edition, note that there's also sequels to the above books, so you may find a Player's Handbook 2, a Monster Manual 2 and 3, and so on and so forth. Don't get those yet until you're comfortable with the game more.

The Players Handbook will enable your players to make new characters that are different from the pre-built ones you got for free. The Dungeon Master's Guide will give you LOTS of good advice for how to run a game, as well as provide additional rules for how to run different kinds of encounters. The Monster Manual will give you the enemies for your players to fight.

If you want, you can buy those books right from the get-go, but you may find yourself overwhelmed if confronted with making a character before you know what combat is like, so even if you do so, I highly recommend downloading the quickstart rules anyway for the characters. But otherwise, the books are good, and will definitely show you what to do step by step.

After you've been playing a bit more, you'll want to spruce things up. Start looking into more books... the Monster Manual 3 is particularly good, for instance. Also check out the miniatures on the stores walls... using little figurines for your players and the monsters they face can really add enjoyment to the game.


Any questions?
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby gamedave » 21 Mar 2012, 18:30

To add to what Iunnrais said:

D&D Encounters is a program designed by the publisher of D&D specifically to introduce new players to 4th Edition D&D, and to table-top role-playing games in general. As Iunnrais indicated, it is specifically designed to allow new players to show up, create a character or pick up a pre-made (also known as pre-generated or "pre-gen"), and jump right in. It has been run, off and on, at CF Games on Wednesdays, usually starting around 7 pm. Encounters is published as a series of linked gaming sessions that make up one large-scale adventure, sort of like a season of a TV series, with each evening's adventure being kind of like a single episode of a TV show. I believe the latest Encounters "season" just wrapped up, and, the last I knew, no one has volunteered to run the next season. Still, you may want to stop by CFG on Wednesday night and ask around to see if anyone is running Encounters that night.

There are a bunch of different gaming groups that meet at CFG. I'm involved in three campaigns (on-going series of adventures connected by continuing characters and plot-lines), none of which, unfortunately, has room for more players, but I've seen a bunch of other groups, and new ones seem to be springing up all the time.

With regards to Editions, one thing to keep in mind is that 4th Edition is currently in print, with new material being produced. The older editions are all out of print, so you'd have to look for used books, and it may be a bit hard to find a gaming group that's still using one of the older editions.

There is also a game called "Pathfinder", which is basically a revised version of 3rd Edition D&D published under license by another company (quite a few gamers think Pathfinder is game 4th Edition should have been). It has become quite popular, and in this area I think it's actually more popular than D&D proper (at least, I've played in and seen more Pathfinder groups at CFG the past couple of years than D&D groups). It's a bit complicated for a new gamer, unless you've got a good DM and a friendly group of players to show you the ropes.

However, there is a Pathfinder "Beginner's Box", which I think is one of the best introductory role-playing games I've ever seen. It's a stripped down version of the Pathfinder rules, and is specifically designed for brand-new players and DMs/Game Masters. It has plenty of guidelines, advice, and tips about how to play and how to be a DM. It also comes with dice, a map, and stand-up figures to represent the player characters and the monsters they fight.

There are also a LOT of other table-top role-playing games on the market. Savage Worlds is my current favorite. It also seems to have become fairly popular in this area of late, and you can download free "test-drive" rules, sample characters, and short adventures (called "one-sheets") from the website at peginc.com. It's a fairly simple set of rules (especially in the "test-drive" version), and it's a lot of fun.

Hope this helps.
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby bdcjacko » 21 Mar 2012, 22:02

On Wedensday nights there is a 4th edition game going that is currently looking for consistent players and it would be really easy for someone to jump in next week at 7 pm.
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby CultD » 21 Mar 2012, 22:30

Awesome, guys,thank you so much! We'll just have to stop in often to see what is going during the week, which is fine by me :). I just got a coworker interested today, so if we can't find something we should be able to get a game going between the 3 of us.

The only question I have right now is that I read in a different forum that if you're a new player and especially if you want to/or will DM then it would be worth it to get a 1 month subscription to DDI, do you think it would be?

Just downloaded the quick start guide and I'll pick up some dice and the player's handbook when we come in next. I think we'll start with the 4th edition since it is the most recent and seems the most newcomer friendly.

bdcjacko wrote:On Wedensday nights there is a 4th edition game going that is currently looking for consistent players and it would be really easy for someone to jump in next week at 7 pm.


Thank you very much for the offer, we'll definitely stop in next Wednesday. I wish I would have posted sooner, so that we would've known there was something going on tonight, haha. Would there be enough room for 3 people?

If I have any more questions, I'll definitely come back and ask them, but you guys have giving me plenty to look over and get started. Thank you again for the information and taking the time to respond, you all have been very helpful!
CultD
 
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby bdcjacko » 21 Mar 2012, 22:43

CultD wrote:Awesome, guys,thank you so much! We'll just have to stop in often to see what is going during the week, which is fine by me :). I just got a coworker interested today, so if we can't find something we should be able to get a game going between the 3 of us.

The only question I have right now is that I read in a different forum that if you're a new player and especially if you want to/or will DM then it would be worth it to get a 1 month subscription to DDI, do you think it would be?

Just downloaded the quick start guide and I'll pick up some dice and the player's handbook when we come in next. I think we'll start with the 4th edition since it is the most recent and seems the most newcomer friendly.

bdcjacko wrote:On Wedensday nights there is a 4th edition game going that is currently looking for consistent players and it would be really easy for someone to jump in next week at 7 pm.


Thank you very much for the offer, we'll definitely stop in next Wednesday. I wish I would have posted sooner, so that we would've known there was something going on tonight, haha. Would there be enough room for 3 people?

If I have any more questions, I'll definitely come back and ask them, but you guys have giving me plenty to look over and get started. Thank you again for the information and taking the time to respond, you all have been very helpful!


Right now we have a dm on 2 player characters, so yes we would probably have room for 3. Right now we are level 4 characters, I think the dm is going to start off new players at like 80% of our xp. I'll get him on here to answer those questions. Also I have the dmi subscription and loan it out to make characters for people in the group. Makes it so much easier to play the game. Like I said, let me talk to the dm and see what is up.
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby Zabasaz » 21 Mar 2012, 23:28

Hi guys. I'm that DM. He's pretty much given you the bare bones of it, we could use some players. We were an Encounters game running weekly but we finished the module. We're hoping to retain consistent players since during Encounters we had a lot of early leavers and people who'd show only once or twice. If you have any questions I'd be happy to help.
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby gamedave » 22 Mar 2012, 08:22

CultD wrote:The only question I have right now is that I read in a different forum that if you're a new player and especially if you want to/or will DM then it would be worth it to get a 1 month subscription to DDI, do you think it would be?


When I was playing 4E regularly, I had a DDI subscription, and it was absolutely worth it to me. And with a subscription, you don't really even need most of the books.

As a player, the big thing you get is access to the online Character Builder (if you use a machine that can run Microsoft Silverlight - a PC or a Mac with a PC emulator - mobile devices can't). The Character Builder lets you point and click your way through all of the character building options from every 4E source ever - and there have been a lot. All the choices might be a bit overwhelming for a beginner, but it also makes sure you've got a "legal" character, and it presents your options in pretty user-friendly format.

As a DM, you get access to Monster Builder, which gives you every monster from every 4E source ever (and there have been a LOT of sources with different monsters). It also gives you the ability to customize monsters and build new ones. The first option is great for starting DMs as it gives you a lot of options ready to print and go. The latter is great for experienced DMs.

You also get access to the D&D Compendium, a searchable database of game terms and rules, and a LOT of online content with new monsters, new magic items, new character options, pre-made adventures, tips for players and DMs, and a lot more. The big problem with the online "bonus" content is that (at least when I subscribed) it's not really searchable, so you kind of had to check the new material every few days and save the stuff that interested you.

For only $9.95 for a one-month subscription, it's almost certainly worth it to give it try. And if you subscribe, most of those expensive hard-back 4E books become kinda superfluous. Honestly, printing out the free quick-start rules and having a subscription is probably more useful than buying the core books, at least if you're playing in a group with an experienced DM.
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby CultD » 22 Mar 2012, 10:52

Alright, well then I'll definitely get the subscription as well; it sounds worth it for the character builder alone. I'll still get the player's handbook too, so I don't have to lug a laptop around or print off a bunch of stuff.

Zabasaz wrote:Hi guys. I'm that DM. He's pretty much given you the bare bones of it, we could use some players. We were an Encounters game running weekly but we finished the module. We're hoping to retain consistent players since during Encounters we had a lot of early leavers and people who'd show only once or twice. If you have any questions I'd be happy to help.


My wife and I will definitely be there next Wednesday then, thank you for letting us know. By the way my name is Jonathan and my wife's name is Jessica. We won't be holding everyone up, though, because we're new, would we? If we can't get into the game, we would be content with just following along and seeing how it works.

Thank you all again for taking the time to answer my questions, this has been very helpful! Now everything doesn't seem as daunting :).
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Re: New to D&D, no idea where to start

Postby gamedave » 22 Mar 2012, 22:36

One other thing about DDI - I suspect the reference that you found to a one-month subscription being worth it was from a few years ago. The Character Builder and Monster Builder used to be downloadable - with a one-month subscription, you could download both and use them off-line, so you only needed an active subscription if you wanted to update them. However, possibly for that very reason, Character Builder and Monster Builder (and the Compendium) are now browser-based - you have to have an active subscription to use them at all.

I don't know how familiar you are with D&D or table-top role-playing games in general, but as your character goes on adventures, he gets "experience points", and gains "experience levels" over time, becoming more capable and powerful. Every time you gain a level, you get new options; if you're using Character Builder, you need an active subscription to "level-up" your character, so it's not just get a one-month subscription to make your character and you're done - you need to maintain an active subscription to maintain and improve your character. Of course, you can also just use the books, a pencil, and a hand-written character sheet.

As I indicated before, it's probably worth it to get a one-month subscription just to take it for a test-drive; you may find Character Builder and the other materials valuable enough to spring for a full year-long subscription, or you may wind up preferring just to use the books.
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